God does indeed know where we're going to be next week. That's the best comfort to take in these times.

Posted by glastonbury27 (anonymous) on February 9, 2009 at 10:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)

NO to the property tax increase! This is still a tax rate increase of 12%! A year with staggering job loss and financial turmoil is NOT the time to pull another "Loudoun Special" double-digit tax increase, even IF it might "on average" reduce tax bills, because it doesn't necessarily mean everyone will be paying the same amount or less. What about the people who have purchased homes during the downturn? Their taxes stand to still go up from this!
Besides that, who really trusts these numbnuts to hike the tax rate this far? Do you really think they'll be as quick to drop it when assessments go back up?
For years, Loudoun received millions upon millions from bloated assessments, and now that they're down, the hog won't go on a diet! I don't remember hearing anyone proposing a nice deep tax cut when the times were good and money was rolling in, so why should we have to fork over more when times are bad?

Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 5:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Our total tax would actually go down 8% from 2008, under the proposed plan, thanks to a ridiculously low assessment ($120K under what WE PAID for the house in 2008). Fair market appraisal? Hardly.

I feel sorry for you folks who are making up the difference. A little.

Posted by dingus3 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 7:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Actually, Hoqenishy, when assessments went sky high in 2006, the rate did go down. From $1.04 to $0.89. The rate also went down between 2001 and 2002. Of course, that was a different BOS.

And technically, since average tax bills will go down, this will be a property tax DECREASE. Not a rate decrease, but a tax decrease.

Posted by dingus3 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 7:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Isn't it great that the Board of Supervisors voted to give the Washington Redskins $250,000.00 to "use their name" but we have to cut 400 school employees.WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE????.I hope that everybody remembers who voted for this fiasco when elections come around next time....

Posted by eagles227 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Under this proposed plan my 2009 property tax bill would go down 12%. This is for a SFH in 20165. I still think the BOS can do better than $1.29- please make more cuts to the proposed budget.

Posted by No11 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 7:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Hey isn't that wonderful. In the midst of a recession. My property value dropped 15%, yet, Loudoun county raises property tax rates. I just figured out my new property tax bill. Even with a property value drop of 15%, lucky me, I get to pay an additional $196.50. Why thank you Mr. Bowers.

I think you could have found some cuts other than screwing your employees out of their retirement contributions though.

The really riduculous thing is having a budget of 1.5 billion dollars for a county of only 300,000 people. What in the heck are you guys doing with all that money? No tax increase. Cuts first.

Posted by MikeL4 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You people are NEVER happy. I'm losing my job and will lose my house because of this budget!!!

Posted by itzazoo (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 8:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

dingus - like Mike has already proven, this is both a rate and tax increase for some. I suspect I am in the same situation he is, but I haven't crunched the numbers yet.
Simply put, there should be 0% increase in property taxes this year across the county. We don't need to kick people when they're already down. Let's hypothetically say that I had bought a house back when times were good, but got laid off and had to sell for a loss in December. My family downsizes to a much smaller home in February, and then the tax bills come out a couple months later. Whoops! Not only do I take the hit from selling for a loss, but I get a tax increase, and both in a huge recession year. This is just one of many plausible situations that I personally know will happen to one of my neighbors if they raise the tax rate.
The BoS needs to leave the tax rate where it is and make due. Leaving it as-is will give people a break in the form of lower monthly payments on their mortgage, which might help people stay in their homes just a little bit longer and curb the foreclosure slide.

Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Perhaps the BOS should stop voting no to companies who want to locate in Loudon and bring more jobs and tax revenue to the county.

Posted by jzalnasky (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Given this proposed tax rate and my new assessment, our taxes will rise $80 over last year's bill. Which is pretty much flat -- but not what we need in this economy. My income is dropping this year, so I need a tax cut!

MikeL4 makes a really good point: I'd be really interested to know what other counties of similar size to Loudoun (and similarly located in the exurbs of a metro area) have as their total budgets.

Posted by glastonbury27 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)

All I can say is that we should've seen this coming before we approved the landslide of residential development we did in the late 90's. It's hard enough to pay for the subsequent increase in schools (the bulk of the budget) in a good economy, but when things take a turn south...it's virtually impossible. This problem has been coming down the pike for a long time now. Please remember that when you vote next. All to often, our elected officials are not rewarded for long term responsible planning. Let's change that so we can better weather times like this in the future.

Posted by adrienne.gardner (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)

It could be way worse--all of you should try living here in California. I'll pay $2K for my taxes on a $450K property, while some guy down the street in virtually the same house gets to pay $7K because he paid $700K, now worth $450K. Those are the rules under Proposition 13. The state is $42B in the hole, the legislature is totally frozen by term limits and owned by the teachers and prison guards unions, and the bond rating for the state is the lowest in the US, along with the schools. You should all get on your knees and thank God that you live in such a well-governed state and county!

Posted by tmkelley (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 12:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Itzazoo,
I feel for your situation. Funny how noone commented to you.
To the complainers...why don't you go complain about your tax rate (which is a decrease) directly to your neighbors who are about to lose their jobs. They also have mortgages, bills and families to take care of. In times like these, you should be pulling together to help your neighbors not throw them under the bus. We are all going through these hard times and there are more to come. Just remember when you scream for cuts-those are PEOPLE you are asking to be cut. You would trade someone's job just so you don't have to pay an extra $200?
Typical Loudoun sense of entitlement.

Posted by vt_lily (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 1:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Here is an idea, how about a county-wide 'special tax surcharge' for every household with more than 2 children of school age?

Better yet, how about the state ending dependant deductions for all households with more than 2 children and increasing THEIR taxes to offset needed services!

Posted by meadmkr (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Last year the BOS voted themselves a 50% raise. Have they offered to rescind that? Thought not, but my wages have been reduced as well as wages of thousands of others. I think its time the BOS gave up their "bonus", especially since all of them already have day jobs.

Posted by GenuineRisk (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 2:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Here's a nutty idea. How about not building a school, when one's only at 1/2 capacity? How about letting an extra 2 or 3 kids sit per classroom? How about letting kids share a computer in computer lab, instead of each one getting their own? How about letting county cars go an extra 25,000 miles before replacing them? How about not having school buses pick up kids that live right next to a school?

Loudoun county wants to live on a Starbucks budget when it is time for Taster's Choice.

Posted by MikeL4 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 3:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

vt_lily,

It's Hatrick that is trading jobs for cuts. He is not looking out for his employees nor residents of Loudoun. The school budget has become bloated with "wants" over "needs" the past several years. I've yet to see any of those "wants" to see the chopping block in his proposals save a "delay to install interactive whiteboards in grades 3-5". And that's just a delay.

Here is the bigger question, "How many teacher positions are really necessary to begin with?" The usual argument for hiring additional teachers is because they want to keep class size small if enrollment increases or kids won't be able to learn effectively. The fact is that reasoning is perpetuated more by the teachers union itself than any factual analysis in order to protect itself and it's members from staff reductions.

MikeL4, good ideas, better yet would be putting the grade school and middle school in the same building and making it two floors and share common resources, (library, gym, etc.)

tmkelley, sounds like your neighbor may have been living beyond his means to begin with...

Posted by littlejim (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)

All those with ideas, please let us know what feedback you received from the BOS, School Board, County Administrator or any other county office you contacted. We would be very interested to know what they thought about your ideas.

Posted by momova (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 4:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I would like to know why our county spends more per student than Fairfax, but gets nothing in return. Fairfax schools are better, larger and their kids score higher in every testing category. What the hell is wrong with Loudoun County Public Schools? Why can my kids go to a private school and it costs less than a student attending public school in Loudoun? We even pay extra for bus service.
Hatrick needs to go, as do the smaller footprints of Loudoun high schools.

Posted by blbower (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 5:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)

This is absolutely obscene. A chart accompanying an article in Saturday's Post showed the 2008 tax rates for the District and sixteen other (eight Maryland and eight Virginia) jurisdictions. Of those seventeen, only five had rates of over $1.00 per hundred. And of those five, Loudoun was by far the highest at $1.14, eleven cents higher than the next closest (Falls Church, at $1.03).

When you look at the level of services provided by Loudoun County, it ranks far below neighboring jurisdictions. For example, while most other jurisdictions have a Police Department as well as a Sheriff's Office, Loudoun makes do with just the Sheriff's Office. There are paid firefighters, but Loudoun is dependent on volunteers to staff and operate much of the fire apparatus. The water authority buys most of its water from Fairfax, and every time there is drought we are forced on restrictions because the county has never bothered to increase its storage capacity while doubling and tripling the population.

Meanwhile, School Superintendent Hatrick encourages parents to "call your supervisor and let them know they have your permission to raise the tax rate," even while his gold plated empire is already sucking down more than half of the annual county budget.

The time has come to say, "Enough!" Even at the current rate of $1.14, our tax rate is exorbitant when compared to the services we receive in return. If anything, it is time to reduce it to more closely parallel the rates in other area jurisdictions.

Posted by alert4jsw (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 5:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sometimes, I am amzed by the short-sightedness that I see on this message board. Education is the key to this region's future. Everyone benefits when the county school system excels. If you cut education, you will soon find that companies will leave Loudoun and take their jobs with them.

Posted by bendergary (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 8:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sometimes, I am amzed by the short-sightedness that I see on this message board. Education is the key to this region's future. Everyone (even those with no children in the school system)benefits when the county school system excels. If you cut education, you will soon find that companies will leave Loudoun and take their jobs with them. By the way, private schools can usually do what they do for less because they do not have to comply with the ridiculous unfunded mandates that the federal and state governments heap onto the public schools.

Posted by bendergary (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 8:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sometimes, I am amazed by the short-sightedness that I see on this message board. Education is the key to this region's future. Everyone (even those with no children in the school system)benefits when the county school system excels. If you cut education, you will soon find that companies will leave Loudoun and take their jobs with them.

By the way, private schools can usually do what they do for less because they do not have to comply with the ridiculous unfunded mandates that the federal and state governments heap onto the public schools.

Posted by bendergary (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

everyones home was assessed at values that were double or more of what they were ever actually worth at the peak of this market.

they NEED to drop 50% or more to be inline with the true value of the home.

the problem is that when they were 200% the true value, the county just raked in tons of money that it didnt really need, it wasted it on a lot of crap (and yes...and LOT of school crap too since over 70% of the tax money goes to schools) and now they dont want to live without it.

its the old, use the budget or you dont get more next year problem that is a core problem with our govt.

until we realize that this mentality is going to bankrupt the US economy for good (which is already happening), there is no chance for a balanced economy. paying pensions at 70+% of salary can be thrown in this boat too. it is 100% unsustainable, and until they eliminate these ponzi schemes, we have no chance of recovery folks.

the govt, the citizens, and the corporations need to accept the inevitable pain equally and until that happens, we're all in for a dismal outlook on the future.

Posted by bthuss (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 9:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

There is nothing wrong with Loudoun County Public Schools. They do a great job educating our students. The teachers work very hard to give our students a great education. I look forward to a spreadsheet showing how terrible our schools are compared to Fairfax County.

Posted by momova (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 10:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bendergary,
Big spending does not equal excellence, as pointed out in blbower's post about Loudoun vs Fairfax. To put it mildly, LCPS' performance is disappointing. In 2007-08, LCPS' HIGHEST scoring high school (as ranked by average SAT combined Reading & Math scores) scored lower than FCPS' Herndon HS, Westfield HS, and Chantilly HS, none of which are known for top-notch academics. In 2008, a grand total of 11 LCPS students were National Merit semi-finalists. That's pathetic for a school district of this size, especially given that Loudoun is a "wealthy" county. So where's the excellence - in the number of interactive whiteboards?

Posted by obamamama31 (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)

blbower said "I would like to know why our county spends more per student than Fairfax..."

Loudoun actually spends less.

Fairfax Per Pupil Expenditure FY 2008 13,407, FY 2009 13,340

Loudoun Per Pupil Expenditure FY 2008 12,751, FY 2009 12,780

http://cmsweb1.loudoun.k12.va.us/loudoun...

Posted by charsj (anonymous) on February 10, 2009 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

vt_lily - you're trying to say that people who want to cut taxes have an entitlement mentality? Holy crap... that's got to be one of the most insipid things I've heard this month.
YES, vt_lily, you're right - I *DO* have an entitlement mentality. I feel entitled to keep the money *I* earn, and not have the county continually chip away at a greater percentage of it because they can't manage their money.
Are you one of those people who feels it's their duty to give more and more taxes/control to government because "they know best?" If so, you should hop a flight with LoudounPatriot to North Korea. They just LOVE that attitude over there.

Posted by Hoqenishy (anonymous) on February 11, 2009 at 6:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

LCPS SAT scores are well above national and state averages. The trend in scores is upward which means that the schools, teachers and students are getting better. Disappointing is another way of saying why fund the school system full of dumb kids. Also I did not realize that poorer equals stupider. The excellence is in the teachers and students that make Loudoun County Schools great. If you have cuts or changes, state them...

Posted by momova (anonymous) on February 11, 2009 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)